The goal of quantitative research is to determine whether there is a truth in the predictive generalizations of a theory which assists in explaining understanding the phenomenon.

By contrast, qualitative research base its inquiry in understanding the human problem using multiple perspective, and the research is conducted in the natural setting in order to understand the phenomenon. While quantitative research uses survey, experimental and Quasi-Experiments methods to collect data, qualitative research uses the interview, case study and focus group as methods of data collection. The survey method involves using questionnaires for data collection with the intent of estimating the interest of the large population based on the smaller sample population. The qualitative research uses the phenomenological approach to understand the human experience. The goal is to immense into the phenomenon to understand the people being studied. The qualitative method also uses the case studies to explore the phenomenon being studied. The case study involves collecting detailed information of a sample program or event.

This study will use survey method as a method of collecting quantitative data. The study will also use the in-dept interview method and case study to collect qualitative data. The strategy will assist the researcher to collect data within the natural setting. Using the case study, the researcher will also collect data from real life situation. There are several be benefits this study will derive from using qualitative research approach.

Benefits of using Qualitative methods

The major benefits of using qualitative research for data collection are that a researcher will be able to collect rich data from the experience of the people being interviewed. The technique will assist in producing valid and quality research findings. Moreover, qualitative research will assist a researcher to collect data from the in-dept interview which will provide the holistic view of the phenomenon under investigation.

Despite the advantages that this study will derive from using qualitative research, there are still shortcomings with the qualitative research.

Weaknesses of Qualitative Methods

The major weakness of qualitative research is that the method is time consuming. It may take lot of days, weeks or months before a researcher secures interview appointments with interviewees.

Moreover, qualitative research is not cost effective. A researcher will need to spend lots of money on phone calls and transportation before finally secured an interview appointment with interviewees. (Bradley, and Devers 2007).

Benefits of using Quantitative methods

One of the major benefits that this study will derive from quantitative research is its cost effectiveness. A research could collect large amount data using lesser amount.

Moreover, there is high level of reliability from the data collected using quantitative method. The data collected will assist in testing the hypothesis as well as arriving at objective conclusion. Despite the benefits that this study will derive from using quantitative research, there is still weakness identified with quantitative research method.

Weakness of Quantitative Method

The quantitative research fails to provide the researcher the rich data from the natural context of the phenomena. The quantitative method is also unable to control the environment where the respondents provide the answer to the survey questions.

Based on the benefits and shortcomings identified with both quantitative and qualitative research methods, the study will use the mixed methods to integrate the benefits of both research methods as well as addressing the shortcomings identified with both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Mixed Methods

Mixed methods encompass the procedure of combining both qualitative and quantitative methods as method of data collection. This study will derive several benefits from using the mixed methods approach. The study will integrate both benefits of quantitative and qualitative research in the research study, which will assist in providing valid and reliable research findings. The mixed methods provide the strengths as well as offsetting the weakness identified in both quantitative and qualitative research.

Moreover, mixed methods provide the comprehensive method of studying the research problem than using either of the qualitative or quantitative research alone. Typically, the researcher will be permitted to use different tools for data collection and data analysis.

Moreover, the mixed methods will assist a researcher to answer the research questions which a researcher may not be able to answer with either qualitative or quantitative research alone. Typically, the mixed methods are practical in the sense that a researcher will be able to solve research problems and answer research questions using combination of numbers and words as well as deductive and inductive thinkings.

Despite the benefits that this study would derive from the mixed method approach, the mixed method is time consuming and the researcher will need to incur more resources with the research approach.

Sample

The researcher will distribute survey questions to approximately 500 participants to collect valid and reliable 100 survey data. The participants will be academicians, government officials and executives of many organizations. The study will sample approximately 5 participants for the in-dept interview.

Secondary Data

The researcher will supplement the primary data with secondary data. The secondary data will consist of research articles, journal articles, published academic materials, and academic books. The researcher will collect secondary data from academic database such as EBSCOhost database, database of Science Direct, Wiley database, and EmeraldInsight. This database contains the scholarly research journals and articles.

The study will also collect secondary data from the academic library and the World Bank database. The major benefits that will be derived from the secondary data are that it is cost effective and is easy to collect. Unlike primary data collection technique which is time consuming, the secondary data is less time consuming and is available in large quantities. However, using only secondary data for the research may not be adequate to answer the research questions and achieve research objectives. Some of the samples of secondary data that will be used for the proposal are as follows:

1. "The financial crisis and its impacts on global agriculture" by J.Y. Lin and W. Martin.

10. "Global economic crisis: implications for trade and development" by World bank.

5. Reflections

The researcher will try to minimize the potential practical and empirical obstacles that might have occurred during the data collection process. However, the researcher envisages the following potential obstacles during the research process.

First, the researcher may face challenges in collecting adequate data to answer the research questions because the researcher may not be able to control the time the respondents will reply the survey questions. Moreover, the rate of collecting the required survey questions will depend on the number of respondents who are willing to fill the survey questions. However, the researcher will distribute 500 survey questions to participants to collect the required data due to the problem envisaged.

The issue of finance is another potential obstacle that the researcher is likely to encounter. Since the study will collect data through mixed methods, the budget allotted for the study may increase due to the unforeseen circumstances such as inflation, increase in the costs of transportation and telephone.

The researcher will need to adhere to ethical protocol by protecting the private data collected from participants. It is part of the university ethical policy that a researcher needs to protect all the data collected from the participants which include, name address, telephone number and email address.

It is envisaged that the researcher will employ both qualitative and quantitative method for data collection and data analysis; however, the researcher will need to collect valid and reliable data through this approach to generate the research findings. The quality of research findings will depend on the quality of data collected through the mixed methods.

6. Conclusion

The study will investigate the "Strategic Multidimensional Analysis of the impact of the World Food Crisis and World Financial Crisis on vulnerable economies on the developing world." The study will reveal how the world global financial crisis has translated into the world food crisis with major effect on developing countries.

The effects have been the increase in the unemployment rates, increase in the hunger rate and decline in the investment opportunities in developing countries.

The study will use the mixed methods for data collection and analysis and this study will…[continue]

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